Nine Boston-area colleges attended the first annual Boston Intercollegiate Government conference at Northeastern University Saturday to discuss student concerns with area politicians and leaders.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, U.S. Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.) and Vanessa Kerry, daughter of presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), each addressed the students and encouraged them to stay involved with politics despite difficulties they may face outside of college.

Menino said he was impressed with the number of colleges in attendance and students are the ‘brainpower’ of the future.

‘Sometimes when bureaucracy gets stale, you young people can help us revitalize what’s happened,’ Menino said.

Capuano told students they would not monetarily profit from their political efforts and told them to keep their interests pure.

‘If it’s all about your own self-aggrandizing, well then I’m going to strongly suggest you go into the business world and make money,’ Capuano said. ‘If, however, what’s driving you is to change the world and make the world a better place, then there’s a million ways to do it.’

Capuano said the students should not waste their opportunities in college as he did and told them to stay involved despite other obligations.

‘When you find yourself too busy, just for a second, remember what you felt today and what brought you here,’ he said.

Despite a bias toward her father, Kerry said she was excited to address her own generation.

‘I came here to speak here today because I think that our generation has been extraordinarily apathetic and the truth is … we are the people who will change if we band together in the ways that you guys have done by coming here today,’ she said.

Besides the three keynote speakers, City Councilor-At-Large Felix D. Arroyo, City Councilor-At-Large Maura Hennigan and City Councilor Michael Ross (Fenway, Back Bay) each addressed the students during two workshops, which discussed file-sharing and civic involvement.

The civic involvement workshop allowed students to debate local issues ranging from the T’s operating hours to housing costs.

Several students expressed disappointment with the T not running later, and Ross said he agreed.

‘There is no reason why we shouldn’t be open 24 hours,’ Ross said.

Boston University Student Union President Carl Woog said students discussed legal options for downloading during a file-sharing forum, after the Recording Industry Association of America recently filed 261 lawsuits across the country.

‘The purpose of the file-sharing session was to show the human side of the RIAA subpoenas to student government leaders,’ Woog said. ‘We had a young woman from Bentley College who received a subpoena come and tell us about her story and we brainstormed how we can help protect our students in the future.’

Union Executive Vice President Remie Ferreira said he felt the councilors’ attendance increased the event’s overall quality.

‘The councilmen’s presence speaks to the fast growing legitimacy that we all see in B.I.G.,’ he said. ‘By them being there they see a real purpose for this organization that we have started.’

Ferreira said he felt student voter registration, a topic all the speakers discussed, was the most important issue for B.I.G. to address in order to be taken seriously.

‘If we have 60,000 kids who are registered to vote, we could get what we want,’ he said.

Woog said BU will start a campus-wide effort to register voters while also utilizing the reach of student groups. Each student group will take part in a competition to register voters, and whichever signs up the most will receive $2.50 per registered voter, up to $2,500.

While B.I.G. Chairman David Bresler said the group would remain non-partisan, each speaker made references to upcoming elections.

Kerry told the students she felt a vote for her father would be in the city’s best interest.

‘By helping my dad, I do think that you can help Boston as well,’ she said.

Menino agreed, saying Kerry would never forget the voters who gave him his start.

‘I think you guys should go out and help John [Kerry] get elected to president because he’s never forgot the people of Massachusetts as he goes around the country,’ Menino said.

Bresler, the Union’s VP of Academic Affairs, said he told each speaker to focus on increasing student involvement, but felt their straying from the topic was unavoidable.

‘I think the only way to avoid it is to get people that aren’t running for office,’ Bresler said.

Ferreira said the group would continue to draw campaigning speakers, but said this would not change the group’s non-partisan outlook.

‘I think that because B.I.G. is going to become so influential, it should be expected that people are going to lobby for our support and that’s flattering for our organization,’ he said. ‘However, regardless of who comes to lobby for our support we are always going to remain non-partisan because of the weight that we are going to carry.’

BU, Bentley College, Boston College, Emerson College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Simmons College, Suffolk University and Wellesley College each sent representatives to the event.

Only nine of the 15 schools that Bresler said were scheduled to attend actually came, with Brandeis University, Bunker Hill Community College, Harvard University, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts at Boston and Wentworth Institute of Technology absent.

Bresler said Harvard’s move-in was this weekend, and he did not know why the other five missed the conference.

‘This is what we’re fighting,’ he said. ‘This is why people criticize student groups. We just need to convince a couple schools that this is something they need to put their time and effort into that this is a legitimate organization.’